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Original poster

Who broke Britain?

410 replies

User32459 · 08/08/2025 09:58

Who do you most blame for our downfall as a nation?

A) Tony Blair and New Labour (97-2010)

B) The Tories (2010-2024)

C) The current Labour government

D) Brexit and Nigel Farage's lies

I think the answer is all of the above and the current government are an absolute disaster, but to be fair to them they've come in at the end when the damage is done. It's not 1997 anymore when they can get away with Blairite policies.

Labour have a lot to answer for but i'd probably go B. The Tories just about got everything wrong. Did they do anything good at all? And ultimately their shocking governance led to Brexit as well.

And the failures of the lot of them will need to Nigel Farage as Prime Minister.

OP posts:
StMarie4me · 08/08/2025 14:06

D

ActiveLog · 08/08/2025 14:07

I think everyone is right, they’ve all played a role in cocking up this country!! For different reasons.

To be fair to Thatcher, she probably didn’t anticipate that no government thereafter would meet the target needed to build more council houses!

One problem leads on to the next and so on and so on…. Blair opening up the boarders to mass unskilled works from Eastern Europe was a mistake. Some will argue we needed the workers but the majority wouldn’t have been net contributors, despite them working, because by the time they had kids and claimed tax credits, the tax payer was supporting them. I don’t blame them for wanting a better life and coming here as the wages were higher but the government should never have allowed the sheer numbers.

That was the main reason the British public voted to leave the EU in the first place, because they were sick of mass unskilled immigration (from Europe, so it’s not racist because shock horror, they were predominantly white!!)

It’s all intertwined and add the housing crash in the USA then the recession, then Brexit failed, then Covid, it’s just own big fuck uk after the next and so on.

No hope to buy a hosue for many people!!
Sky high rent prices and 20 people trying to get one rental!
No social housing!!
No NHS dentists!!
Lucky if you can get a DR appointment within 2 weeks!!
Hard working people barely able to feed their families!!

A roof over your head and being able to feed your kids should NOT be this hard for people in owe of the world’s wealthiest countries, it’s disgusting!!

ThePoshUns · 08/08/2025 14:07

Franpie · 08/08/2025 13:29

I have to disagree. David Cameron decided on the referendum to quieten his own back-benchers.

His first fuck-up was agreeing to the referendum in his arrogance that it was not a risk.

His second fuck up was not correctly and accurately outlining the terms of the referendum.

But the real fuck-up was his complete inability to articulate to the country as a whole the reasons why we should remain. His campaign was a disaster from start to finish.

Show quote history

Totally agree with this analysis. Cameron shafted us all.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Politics
rockstarshoes · 08/08/2025 14:07

Jasmin71 · 08/08/2025 10:55

Thatcher
Austerity
Brexit
Nefarious bastards that are controlling Farage and his ilk.

Agree with this!

The privatisation of all our utilities started it! Making owners & share holders rich while failing to invest in the infrastructure of the Country!

Austerity made everyone poor & cut public services to the bone which effectively led to Brexit which has damaged the Economy even more!

so in answer to your question is
B & D with Thatcher at the start of it!

DancingFerret · 08/08/2025 14:09

Blair, closely followed by Cameron.

the5thgoldengirl · 08/08/2025 14:09

This reply has been withdrawn

This message has been withdrawn at the poster's request

waitingforpost · 08/08/2025 14:10

But the real fuck-up was his complete inability to articulate to the country as a whole the reasons why we should remain. His campaign was a disaster from start to finish.

Voters have to take some responsibility for voting leave though.

WoodlandLove · 08/08/2025 14:10

luckylavender · 08/08/2025 13:47

Amazed no one has mentioned Thatcher. She let all the council houses get sold. She also plunged many communities into permanent decline when all the pits closed. No contingency for the workforces.

Loads of people have mentioned Thatcher. Practically from the beginning of the thread.
I agree with the rest of your post though.

AnotherDayanotherNameChangeX · 08/08/2025 14:10

E - all of the above

PGBlush · 08/08/2025 14:12

Tony Blair 100%

EasternStandard · 08/08/2025 14:13

bombastix · 08/08/2025 13:33

Oh yes, but the point is that the Conservatives did themselves in. For the sake of the backbenchers. It was an unbelievable decision

Show quote history

I’m not sure it’s that that did it, Johnson got in after all and the 2021 local elections were fine for them. Without an ex strategist campaign it’s possible they would have got in again.

However the underlying immigration issue was becoming problematic for them and may have the same impact on Labour at the next GE.

DeLaRuiz · 08/08/2025 14:13

The amount if immigration is disastrous, clearly. So that is Blair.

Offering a vote on leaving the EU without offering clarity on what it would actually mean … well, honestly.. I think as a country we should sue! Talk about criminal stupidity!

Starmer is useless, yes. But how to we get out of this ridiculous mess? Far too many people, not enough money, and Starmer continuing to fund other places and pauperise us.

Absolutely awful. If only we could go back in time and avoid all this mess. I don’t see any way out at all.

AnnaQuayInTheUk · 08/08/2025 14:14

B

Msmfailedusbad · 08/08/2025 14:17

Blair opened the country up to mass uncontrolled immigration.
Brown wrecked the economy- from which we have never recovered, wages have also never recovered since 2008.
everything structurally that is wrong with the country now has been greatly exacerbated by those two factors. Some would go further and say those are the two root causes of most of our problems since.

waitingforpost · 08/08/2025 14:18

The amount if immigration is disastrous, clearly. So that is Blair.

What happened to immigration with the Tories? And post Brexit?

waitingforpost · 08/08/2025 14:20

Past governments have favoured immigration because of our demographics

waitingforpost · 08/08/2025 14:21

Brown wrecked the economy- from which we have never recovered, wages have also never recovered since 2008.

Wages started declining before 08. We never recovered from 08 but interest rates were held low too long & austerity was dreadful.

user1497787065 · 08/08/2025 14:21

childofthe607080s · 08/08/2025 10:16

Maggie thatcher is missing and it stated with her - she is directly responsible for the housing crisis

i also think saying Britain is broken is trite emotive nonsense really - what does it mean that a country is broken? I would say civil war might imply that, famine , human rights abuse

But Margaret Thatcher resigned in 1990. I would also say she gave opportunities to many which they would never have had otherwise.

yes, she sold off housing stock but has no one thought to address the housing problem
in 35 years?

MiloMinderbinder925 · 08/08/2025 14:22

Thatcher: destroyed our industry, privatised our national services, sold off social housing, introduced globalisation, aligned with the US on foreign policy, championed the individual over society, deregulation, created huge swathes of deprivation in the north and promoted rampant neoliberalism.

ThatSchoolOfficeLady · 08/08/2025 14:24

Stichintime · 08/08/2025 10:07

Thatcher

Yep. Having lived through them all, Thatcher ruined this country.

SpunkyPombear · 08/08/2025 14:24

All the immigrants who don't work in high paying jobs and claim any benefits

ActiveLog · 08/08/2025 14:24

Msmfailedusbad · 08/08/2025 14:17

Blair opened the country up to mass uncontrolled immigration.
Brown wrecked the economy- from which we have never recovered, wages have also never recovered since 2008.
everything structurally that is wrong with the country now has been greatly exacerbated by those two factors. Some would go further and say those are the two root causes of most of our problems since.

Totally agree with your first point 10000 percent but not sure Brown wrecked the economy? The recession was brought on because of the housing crash in the US
the that was the domino effect on us, that’s what I remember of it?

Tbf I can’t really remember much about his time as PM but out of all of them, he’s the only one that’s come from nothing, the rest are all from very privileged backgrounds so he knew what life was like as a normal lad growing up, whereas the rest are so far removed from reality, it’s as if they can’t see how their actions can negatively impact the public working class.

the5thgoldengirl · 08/08/2025 14:25

This reply has been withdrawn

This message has been withdrawn at the poster's request

Franpie · 08/08/2025 14:26

waitingforpost · 08/08/2025 14:10

But the real fuck-up was his complete inability to articulate to the country as a whole the reasons why we should remain. His campaign was a disaster from start to finish.

Voters have to take some responsibility for voting leave though.

I don’t think so. You can’t expect the average Joe, with no knowledge of the complex economic structure of the European Union to be able to confidently know exactly what they are voting for if it is not reliably and clearly explained to them.

Some may say (me included) that it would be impossible to explain that. Which is why it should never have been put to national referendum.

Enko · 08/08/2025 14:26

E. The milk snatcher